Hasta La Gadget!

Apparently, there are people out there who are learning with their iOS devices instead of just browsing the Internet, chatting with friends or wasting countless hours in Pixel People. Apple is announcing today you brainiacs have surpassed one billion iTunes U downloads.

“There are now iTunes U courses with more than 250,000 students enrolled in them, which is a phenomenal shift in the way we teach and learn,” Apple’s senior vice president of Internet Software and Services Eddy Cue said in a statement.

In total, iTunes U is used in over 1,200 universities and colleges and 1,200 K-12 schools and districts with its hosting of over 2,500 public courses and thousands of private courses. 60 percent of the iTunes U downloads have come from outside of the U.S., Apple says. 155 countries are able to access iTunes U content with educators being able to create iTunes U courses in 30 countries.

The last major milestone iTunes U announced was it hitting 300 million downloads in August 2010. Nearly three years later to achieve 700 million additional downloads is kind of a slow progression, but it’s still an impressive feat as I personally forbid to teach myself anything on my iOS devices.

By Ubergizmo. Related articles: Apple Censors ‘Barely Legal Teen’ From iCloud Emails, Attachments, Leap Wireless Is Stuck With Heaps Of iPhones In Its Inventory,

HTC recently announced the One smartphone and it looks like the company is going to try and make things a bit simpler for those switching from an iPhone. HTC is reportedly working on improving their SyncManager software so that it will be able to import data from an iPhone backup file. These are the files that are created with iTunes and if things arrive as expected, One users should be able to get data to include images and videos as well as calendar entries and text messages.

Some of this data could certainly be grabbed and loaded onto the One using other methods, however being able to offer an ‘import from an iTunes backup’ should appeal to those who have been considering a switch, but otherwise wouldn’t have the knowledge to transfer the data. While that may seem on the silly side for some, we have to remember that there are plenty of people that simply start from scratch when they get a new phone.

The details are still emerging and in fact, right now we have yet to see anything official coming from HTC. One of the questions that remains is platform support. The current version of SyncManager works with both Mac and Windows which would lead one to believe this updated version will do the same. There is also some question as to which HTC devices will be able to import data from the iTunes backups. CNET is reporting this as a feature for the One, however if HTC really wanted to make the push, it seems to make sense that other devices would have the same ability.

We have also yet to see a release date for this updated SyncManager software. It would be nice to see it arrive when the One arrives for sale, however we suspect a tool like this will be more beneficial in the long term. In other words, it would probably not be something the early must-have-on-day-one adopters would be looking for anyway. In the meantime, the current version of the HTC SyncManager has some support for iTunes transfers, however those deal mostly with importing music.

[via CNET]

HTC SyncManager update to put the focus on iPhone imports is written by Robert Nelson & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Dropbox for iOS has just been updated to version 2.1, and with it comes a few updates that should make your Dropbox experience much more pleasant. In order to take advantage of this new Dropbox update, your mobile device has to be on iOS 5 or higher. The update is only about 13.8MB, so you won’t have to worry about the update taking up all of your space on your iPhone/iPad (if you do, you should probably move some files on over to Dropbox).

One of the major updates in Dropbox v2.1 is the ability to view your PDF files straight from the app itself. Now you can avoid the hassle of having to download your PDFs to your phone and viewing it with a separate app. Dropbox is basically trying to cut out the middle man. While this is a major update, and a huge convenience boost for the app, a few users have been reporting a bug in the PDF reader that causes it to malfunction from time to time. Dropbox should be fixing the issue with a smaller update sometime in the near future.

There are also two minor updates included in V2.1. You now get a push notification whenever someone shares a folder with you, which is a feature that has been requested on and off by users.  Also, the “files by date” sort function has been modified. Both are just convenient factors in order to improve user experience.

For those of you who don’t have Dropbox yet, you should definitely take advantage of it. It offers you 2GB of cloud storage for free when you sign up, and increases the storage space to 3GB if you sign up for its “Camera Upload” feature. The Camera Upload feature is a very convenient feature that backs up all of your photos/videos to your Dropbox as soon as you take them. Other features that Dropbox offers is the ability to easily transfer files between multiple devices, and also the ability to share your files with other people. It’s a great app if you’re looking into joining the new cloud storage phenomenon.

[via iTunes]

Dropbox for iOS offers new notifications and a pdf reader is written by Brian Sin & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

The first rule of running a successful nightclub is: always keep a line – and that’s exactly what the folks at Orchestra are doing to make their new app “Mailbox” a success right out of the box here at launch. This app is what the developers describe as an end-all be-all organizational tool for your mailboxes of all kinds, especially if you’re a Gmail user working with an iPhone. Registration for this app began well before the app was released to the iTunes app store and now, here on launch day, a massive line of those “in line in front of you” begins.

The first screen you’ll see when you pop in to Mailbox on your iPhone is a question of whether you’ve pre-registered or if you’ll be needing to pick up a number. It’s not unlike waiting to get called to update your license tabs at the DMV – and just like that situation, you can watch it all happen in real time. Once you’re accepted (one the thousands and thousands of users before you in line are in, that is), you’ve got a rather simple, bright, and Apple-friendly vision for email.

The way you work with mail is to connect your various email accounts in, and read, tap, and swipe your way around from there. If you swipe right on an email, that email goes to your archive. If you swipe “long right”, that email will go to the trash. A short swipe left will send a message to a “later” bin for you to read at a later date, while a “long swipe left” will skip the “later” function and put the email in a list.

As Apple Insider notes, such functionality may remind you of the app by the name of Clear, a list-keeper app that we reviewed last year. Here with email we’re more than pumped up to give such a simple set of controls an extended hands-on look. Stay tuned for SlashGear for more Mailbox action as we keep our fingers on the swipe!

[via MailboxApp]

iPhone “Mailbox” live in app store, keeps a line outside is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Something tells me that sometime down the road, we might soon be able to see how iTunes Store is compared to McDonald’s, serving up billions. Well, Apple fanboys will be pleased to hear that the iTunes Store has just hit its 25th billion song sold, making it the world’s most popular online music, TV and movie store in the process. Which song had the particular honor of being the 25 billionth song? “Monkey Drums” (Goksel Vancin Remix) by Chase Buch would mark the spot, and a certain Phillip Lüpke from Germany picked it up, along with a generous €10,000 iTunes Gift Card that would surely make today a memorable one for him.

Eddy Cue, Apple’s senior vice president of Internet Software and Services, said, “We are grateful to our users whose passion for music over the past 10 years has made iTunes the number one music retailer in the world. Averaging over 15,000 songs downloaded per minute, the iTunes Store connects music fans with their favorite artists, including global sensations like Adele and Coldplay and new artists like The Lumineers, on a scale we never imagined possible.”

Just how many songs have you purchased over iTunes throughout the years? In fact, have you counted how much money you have invested into digital music all this while, and would you have spent more or less if you were to restrict yourself to just CDs? [Press Release]

By Ubergizmo. Related articles: Apple Reminds iOS Users The Dangers Of Jailbreaking Their Devices, Solar-Powered iPhone Highlighted In Apple Patent,